Labor Secretary Tom Perez said that despite broad-based job growth last month there are far too many American families still struggling financially, and echoed President Barack Obama’s call for a federal minimum-wage increase to help narrow income inequality.

In a statement Friday about the nation’s November jobs report and an interview Thursday at a White House labor-management summit, Mr. Perez said the middle-class American dream of getting ahead with hard work is in jeopardy.

In the interview, Mr. Perez dismissed contentions that boosting the minimum wage from the current $7.25 an hour would hurt the economy, and said he thinks there’s “overwhelming support across an ideological spectrum.”

“When I worked for Sen. [Edward] Kennedy in 1996 when the minimum wage was increased, the economy didn’t really go into the tank,” he said. “It’s a simple matter of fairness. Nobody who works a full-time job should have to live in poverty,” he said. “Congressional support for increasing the minimum wage has historically been bipartisan.”

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce has long opposed increasing the minimum wage, saying it would disproportionately hurt small companies. It has said that any increase needs to include provisions that recognize consequences for small businesses.

Mr. Perez also addressed criticism that he and the Labor Department have largely ignored the business community’s concerns about new rules. Citing recently finalized rules to increase the hiring of veterans and the disabled, he said, “We listened, we were pragmatic, and that’s how we’ve always tried to do things and will continue to try to do things.”

dropping three-tenths of a percentage point to 7%. But in his written statement, Mr. Perez said the numbers served a reminder “that far too many American families are still struggling to get by.” He also called on Congress to invest in infrastructure, overhaul immigration laws, and extend the emergency unemployment compensation program, which expires at the end of the year.

“As the president underscored earlier this week, growing inequality and a lack of upward mobility has jeopardized middle-class America’s basic bargain — that if you work hard, you have a chance to get ahead,” said Mr. Perez, referring to President Obama’s Wednesday speech about income inequality.

At Thursday’s White House summit, aimed at showcasing labor-management collaborations, Mr. Perez said collective bargaining and worker-training partnerships could help the economy. He said he believes employers don’t have to choose to “either take care of your workers or care of your shareholders.” And he was followed by panels of union and corporate officials who’ve worked through tense times — albeit with help from government mediators when needed — to negotiate contracts and run worker-training programs they said create jobs and advancement.

Officials from Ford Motor Co. and the United Auto Workers, for example, said together they helped revive the car maker. Officials from the Walt Disney Co. and the Building and Construction Trades Department labor group said their mutual respect provides employment and middle-class wages for more than 5,000 unionized maintenance and construction workers.

But Communications Workers Association President Larry Cohen, in closing remarks, delivered a sobering message for unions, saying the “elephant in the room” is “how rare this process of collective bargaining has become.” It is “all but destroyed and many are attacking it,” said Mr. Cohen, who appeared on a panel touting the union’s partnership with Disney’s ABC unit. He pointed a finger at the Business Roundtable, noting they were also gathering that day and “not talking about the fact that without collective bargaining there will be no economic growth.”

A Roundtable spokeswoman declined to comment but noted that earlier this week the group of chief executive officers of major U.S. companies released a survey of its CEOs who predict 2.2% GDP growth next year and called for a growth agenda that includes modernizing the tax system, expanding trade, and overhauling immigration laws.

The event was held the same day fast-food workers and labor organizers continued protests demanding $15 in hourly pay. In a blog post this week, Mr. Perez wrote that Congress needs to respond by raising the federal minimum wage.

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